hair not growing much, looking for advice

[Arden]

April 1st I got a bad haircut. Deep layers, way too short. I started growing it out and in about 3 months had a substantial increase in length. In June I had a trim. Just a dusting really. Then again in September. My thought process being that if I averaged 2 inches every 3 months then 1/4 trims would see me at BSL in no time. Today I was comparing pictures of my hair and after 6 months my hemline seems to ne hovering right at APL. Every picture looks just about the same length. What's the deal?

[spidermom]

It is natural for hair to ebb and flow in growth. I average about 2/3 inch per month, but there are months when my hair doesn't seem to grow at all, other months when it has a growth spurt and makes up for all the months of relative non-growth. Be patient, take care of your hair; growth will happen.

[SnowWhite]

Like spidermom says: The growth goes through different stages. Sometimes it grows fast, sometimes slower.
Last four months or so, it seemed like my hair stopped growing, or very slowly (I'm at APL). I didn't panic because I knew from people here at the forum that it's normal to go through such a time.
Right now it has an incredible growth spurt!!
All of a sudden, people keep saying me how fast my hair grows, I even heard it three times this week. I was amazed. I hope the spurt will last a very long long time!

Also, take good care of your hair and your health! It will help :)

[Audhumla]

It's taken me a year to get from APL to BSL with no trims and only one haircut that lost me an inch so don't feel too bad.
I've had a looot of stress in my life this year and until this month my hair hasn't grown since a haircut I had in May before which it had been growing steadily at 1"/month.
I think the haircut I had (which involved the hairdresser thinning/putting long layers in the last 2 inches of my hair :/ ) contributed to my growth stall.
I can see from my fringe which has grown from brushing the top of my cheek to longer than my face since May that my hair still managed to grow but my length didn't grow at all.
My theory is that when hairdressers cut in layers or thin like that they leave the hairs that were originally the longest as the longest hairs and cut back the shorter hairs so that in the finished haircut the longer hairs fall out first and that drop from your overall length to the next longest layer as the longer layer falls out naturally is probably more than your hair is growing so you don't get a net increase.
I measured my hair yesterday and it's grown .5-.75" in the last month or so (since I lost my tape measure) so all is not lost.
I'd very much recommend accidentally losing your measuring tape and focusing on your hair's health and keeping your goal in mind.
Good Luck !

[lapushka]

So you basically had 3 haircuts in 6 months' time. I'm guessing the "dustings" are a little more than dustings. I think that's what's going on. :)

[jacqueline101]

I agree it takes time and patients. My hair did the same thing no or little growth for along time. Its starting to pick up after little progress this summer. Maybe your hair will pick up soon and make up for the lack of growth. Maybe your dustings were a little too much.

[Arden]

So you basically had 3 haircuts in 6 months' time. I'm guessing the "dustings" are a little more than dustings. I think that's what's going on. :)


No it was 3 haircuts in aprox 9 months. April first - got cut too short. June 21st got 1/4th inch after major growth... September 19th? (Can't recall exactly) was my last cut. When I said 6 months I was referring to the time frame since my growth spurt. From April to late June my bottom layer went from collar bone to right about APL. I assumed based on that growth rate that a 1/4 inch trim every 3 months would keep my ends clean without taking too much length.

[Arden]

There have been several helpful comments here. I think one perhaps might be just a slow down of growth. Two might be I'm in a heavy sheding phase... Just a guess. Upon looking more critically at my pictures I would say that it appears I have had a lot of top growth, just not much on the bottom. Perhaps the bottom is thinning and the top is growing in giving the illusion of a stall?

[Arden]

I'll see if I can get together some pictures uploaded so I can post them for comparison.

[MORE]

There have been several helpful comments here. I think one perhaps might be just a slow down of growth. Two might be I'm in a heavy sheding phase... Just a guess. Upon looking more critically at my pictures I would say that it appears I have had a lot of top growth, just not much on the bottom. Perhaps the bottom is thinning and the top is growing in giving the illusion of a stall?

I vote for this! That's what happened to me. I have been watching some of my new growth carefully and can see that the new hair after my shed has grown alot. You can look at my picture at my profile and you will see that I have a lot more volume on top. The bottom is very thin in comparison. Sure, it has been growing for almost a year now but it's just the same as before thickness-wise. I think it sometimes can be very hard to tell because of each strands different growth rate, so just be patient!

Before you know it the new growth will travel down and suddenly you will feel and see the change.:flowers:

[DinaAG]

be patient dear and remember to eat healthy food, exercise and give yourself scalp massage

[dulce]

I find doing an hour of cardio a day increases overall circulation,and gives a faster monthly grow rate for me,when I stop the cardio for any length of time my hair really slows down.

[RubyTuesday]

I was very frustrated with my growth over the summer but since the weather has changed and it is now properly wintry, my hair has started to grow again.... I don't know why, but my hair just seems to grow more in the winter. Makes no sense as I am often inside in a centrally heated house.

I am not complaining though. Just get through the slow growth period and it will even itself out again. Good luck. :)

[dulce]

Bed and Bath [store]has a cute manual scalp massager,another way to increase circulation

[jojo]

So you basically had 3 haircuts in 6 months' time. I'm guessing the "dustings" are a little more than dustings. I think that's what's going on. :)

My thinking too, ive read posts off one member who says she dusts and takes 1/2" off each go, dusting is cutting so little off it looks like dust!

[browneyedsusan]

I haven't read the whole thread, but I would just put it up and forget about it---for as many days or weeks as you can manage. No more haircuts. None. It's working well for me. I plan to have an "evening up" haircut in the spring--get rid of the diagonal pixie bangs, earholes, and all the scraggly ends from last spring. My siggy shows progress from May--2 months of growth. I don't have a picture of the pixie at it's shortest.

[torrilin]

My hair does grow a bit faster than average (I get 7-9" per year). But a lot of what makes it look fast is I don't trim frequently. I can easily go 6-9 months between trims, and it's not a huge trial to go 12 months between trims. Most of the time, my hair is up, and that cuts down on the urge to trim quite a bit.

Even a rotation as simple as ponytail, cinnamon bun and English braid(s) will get you a variety of looks while still giving the benefits of updos for your growth rate. You don't need a huge variety of updos to grow, just enough so you're not desperately bored. Learn to lace braid, and experiment with a half up or two, and you will have more variety than you could have believed possible.

Another thing is learn to work with your hair's good points. I have the kind of ashy brown hair with natural highlights and lowlights galore. This makes French braids really stand out as pretty in my hair. My hair also has delusions of curl around my face, so I tend to wind up with tiny corkscrew tendrils of baby hair. Accents like hair rolls and lace braids look good with the baby hair halo. While my hair is straight, trying for perfectly sleek just doesn't work. Mostly, it winds up being bland or harsh on me. It's a lot easier to resist trimming when you're under no illusions that a hair cut will help your looks :). Then trims are a matter of comfort, coz no one is really comfortable dealing with crazy tangles from masses of split ends.